New Money Review podcast Paul Amery

Supporters of the $10trn private equity industry say it fuels economic growth and delivers leaner, better-performing companies.One leading critic of the sector is Ludovic Phalippou, who says that the industry routinely overstates its financial performance. And, he says, private equity funds charge a whopping 6-7% a year in fees, wiping out any potential benefits to investors.In the latest New Money Review podcast, I interview Phalippou, who is professor of financial economics at Oxford University. We cover:* What is private equity?* How big is the private equity market?* Why have private equity assets grown fivefold in a decade?* What is the economic footprint of private equity?* How should we measure private equity funds’ performance?* How honest are private equity firms in reporting performance?* Do private equity funds have higher returns than public equity funds?* What do private equity funds cost?* Agency conflicts in the private equity industry* The impact of recent interest rate rises on private equity* The need for standardised reporting of private equity performance.

Want to know what happens when fraud is a core component of your business model?Want to know how a business idea described as an “economic fairytale” could be valued at $300m? Want to know how an unknown cryptocurrency exchange could end up with a $1bn a year marketing budget, rivalling that of Microsoft?Want to know how easy it is to corrupt auditors and journalists with crypto tokens?All this is in Crypto Confidential (https://thehistorypress.co.uk/contributor/jake-donoghue/), a new book by Jake Donoghue that’s coming out in August 2024. I read a review copy, really enjoyed it and have invited Jake to talk to New Money Review podcast listeners.Donoghue describes his book as “a record of the sheer extravagance, excess and absurdity I bore witness to on a daily basis”.In the podcast we discuss:* How an unviable betting start-up could be worth $300m on its first day of trading* Why its founders switched focus from gambling to marketing* Duplicitous tactics, shilling, pumping and dumping in crypto* The confluence of politics and cryptocurrency* Why did the cryptocurrency markets recover after the 2022 FTX/Terra/Luna frauds?* From bitcoin to ICOs, NFTs and memecoins: how crypto has lost touch with its origins* How influencer crypto marketing hit its peak in 2022* When Bybit’s reported $1bn a year marketing budget rivalled Microsoft’s* The innovation of crypto fundraising* Why crypto journalism is an oxymoron* Tether and sanctions evasion* Why crypto projects are jumping onto the AI bandwagon* What next for cryptocurrency?

In the latest New Money Review podcast, I interview Richard Comotto, a specialist in repo, the multi-trillion dollar marketplace used by large financial institutions to borrow and lend money in the short term.Richard, who started his career at the Bank of England, works for the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA), for whom he has authored the ICMA “Guide to Best Practice in the European Repo Market”, its website FAQs on repo and the semi-annual survey of the ICMA European repo market, which has been running since 2000. He has also advised on the development of domestic money and repo markets for bodies such as the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He is also co-founder and chief product officer at London Reporting House, a fintech providing data and analytics on the repo market.In the podcast, we cover:* What is the repo market?* The role of repo in the bond markets* Did repo help trigger the 2008 financial crisis?* The difference between repo and a pledge* The difference between repo and a securities loan* Why repo has largely replaced unsecured wholesale lending* When and how can repo go wrong?* How do central banks use repo?* Is quantitative tightening (QT) the reverse of quantitative easing (QE)?* The effect of blockchain on the repo market* How shorter settlement cycles affect repo* Could central clearing trigger a repo market accident?

The Stoic philosophers said we should manage our emotions when it comes to money and wealth.But is this a realistic goal? How can we resist the siren call of riches? How can we persevere and stay positive through tough economic times?In this episode of the New Money Review podcast I’m joined by Donald Robertson, philosopher, psychotherapist and author of best-selling books on how to apply Stoic principles to modern life.In the podcast, we cover:* Who were the Stoics?* Why have we turned repeatedly to them over the centuries?* What explains the latest surge of interest in their ideas?* Stoicism and stoicism* Why the former is good and the latter is bad for your mental health* How Marcus Aurelius’s meditations speak to all of us* The Stoics’ sophisticated understanding of emotions* Why strong emotions cause cognitive biases* Why we are blind to our own biases* Stoic practices and modern methods of cognitive distancing* Stoic beliefs on wealth and money* Were the early Stoics communists?* How the Stoics could save democracy

Almost half of the crime now committed in the UK is now fraud, most of it taking place online. But only 1% of police resources are devoted to catching the fraudsters.In the last New Money Review podcast I looked into how to bridge this alarming gap, exploring the mindset of the cybercriminal with my guest Sarah Armstrong-Smith.In this episode I dig into a small, but disturbing and rapidly growing part of the multi-trillion electronic crime business—romance fraud.My guest is Dr Elisabeth Carter, a criminologist and forensic linguist who works at the intersection of language and the law. She’s recently published a book (https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/language-of-romance-crimes/8A21A458A88FB527C6AA4BEB2D0A0D46) in which she shows how criminal gangs exploit language to lure and then cheat their victims.Romance fraudsters exploit psychological weak points as well, making it look as if they are on the victims’ side. As a result, when the fraud is exposed, the victim suffers both monetary and psychological harm. Even worse, the rest of us then often blame the victims, says Carter.Listen in for the next 30 minutes to learn more—and how best to protect yourself.We cover:* Why a romance fraud often seems normal at the beginning* How fraudsters harness the context* Why a fraudster invites protective responses from the victim* Secrecy, isolation and urgency—trademarks of the crime* Why romance fraud is a long con* Why fraudsters give gifts* Coercive control--the psychological harms of romance fraud* How a romance fraud may escalate to physical threats* Negligence or abuse—should banks compensate fraud victims?

Cybercrime is often more than just a demonstration of hacking skills. The attacker could be motivated by money, but equally by nationalism, a search for notoriety or revenge. The victim may be random and innocent, but he/she could have been singled out because of an emotional weak spot. Following the crime, other human emotions, such as guilt or shame, may prevent the attack from being disclosed.So when addressing cybercrime, we need to focus as much on psychology as on technology. As internet-enabled fraud reaches ever more alarming proportions, in the latest New Money Review podcast I interview Sarah Armstrong-Smith, author of a new book called “Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset (https://www.koganpage.com/risk-compliance/understand-the-cyber-attacker-mindset-9781398614284)”.In the podcast, we cover:* Why pandemics and war are great news for fraudsters* The amplification effect of social media* How disinformation campaigns drive polarisation in society* Why nation-state hackers are well-resourced and focused* Why cybercrime and fraud are the invisible crime* How police forces are scrambling to catch up* "Pig-butchering": blaming the victims of fraud* Seeing frauds as human-to-human relationships* Bolstering our defences as organisations and individuals* The need for transparency about cyberattacks* Why sanctions are most effective at the individual level